The subject of the invention is logical board games, which have a special playing area (board). The playing areas are rectangular (specifically: square), and comprise primary playing fields, otherwise called cells; the cells are congruent orthogonal geometrical figures, which adjoin, by at least two of their sides, their neighbouring cells, and the at the opposing ends of the playing area are baselines made up of rows of cells. The invented playing areas are protected by Hungarian design applications D 03 00347 and D 03 00348.
Furthermore, the invented board games feature two equal-numbered sets of pieces of different colors, belonging to the opposing players. The pieces are named identically to, and are preferably of a similar appearance to, the pieces used in traditional chess—major pieces and pawns-and move according to the rules of traditional and reform chess. A further characteristic of the invented board games is that, besides chess, the same board can, for example, also be used to play the following games: horse race, pawn war, French chess (also known as “Giveaway Chess,” but referred to as “French Chess” throughout), halma, pyramid and checkers (shashki). In the case of halma, pyramid and checkers, the equal-numbered sets of pieces are non-figurative, preferably disc-shaped pieces (tokens), according to the established rules of these games. I have given my invention the collective name Polgár Superstar® board games, indicating that these games are members of the Polgár Superstar® family of games that are playable on the Polgár Superstar® orthogonal (6×6, 5×7) reform-chess board.
One of the most ancient known games, chess, which dates back more than 3,000 years, has an orthogonal, square-shaped playing field made up of 8×8 cells organized into vertical columns and horizontal rows usually on a board, table or box surface. Furthermore, the game features two sets of pieces made up of 16 pieces each. The pieces are shaped as figures that act in accordance with their established roles within the rules of the game. During the past five hundred years the game has been played according to the same rules as a game for two players who oppose one another as “white” and “black” in accordance with the starting move.
The large number of pieces and cells results, according to the rules, in such a large number of move combinations that the game of chess is regarded all over the world as an intellectual pursuit highly suitable for developing complex combinative abilities and, consequently for realizing various strategic and tactical concepts.
Besides traditional chess (played on an 8×8 square board, according to FIDE rules: also known as orthodox chess), a vast number of reform chess ideas have also been published. In his “Encyclopedia of Chess Variants” (Games and Puzzles Publications, Surrey, 1994), D. B. Pritchard describes almost 1,500 different varieties of reform chess. Half of these were developed before 1970, and the other half between 1970 and 1993. In the bibliography of his book he mentions some 150 works written on the subject of reform chess. In the chess-related catalogue of the Royal Library of The Hague, more than 250 works are to be found on chess games that differ from the traditional version. All this is clearly indicative of continuous and keen interest in reform chess and of the creativity it inspires.
Nor is it any coincidence that reform chess has been played by many famous chess masters, including Aliechin, Benkö, Capablanca, Hübner, Kagan, Keres, Kieseritzky, Kmoch, Landau, Marco, Maróczy, Nimzowitsch, Showalter, and the Polgár sisters.
Many chess experts and amateurs have attempted, by way of experiment, to “improve” the game of chess to some extent, while preserving its indubitably high intellectual value. Various innovations and modifications have been proposed.
One opportunity lies in changing the size of the board, or the shape and geometry of the playing field. Thus, a smaller board may result in a certain simplification and can speed up the game, since fewer pieces can be placed on the smaller board, bearing in mind the reduced size of the playing area. Examples of such games are Alapo, Apocalypse, Archer, Baby, Benighted, Bird, Chessence, Los Alamos, Microchess I and II, and Minichess I, II, III and IV etc.
There have been attempts to achieve the above goal by using playing fields differing in geometrical shape from the orthogonal, for example, triangular, rhomboid, hexagonal and star-shaped playing fields, or combinations of them.
One of the findings that led to my invention was the fact that, by using a smaller board and a reduced number of cells (even while preserving their traditional rectangular shape), the game can be made sufficiently more dynamic without sacrificing any of its other advantageous properties. On the basis of the experience acquired in the course of my investigations, the optimal number of cells appeared to be between 35 and 54; this can be realised precisely using a 5×7 or 9×6 board, although games are particularly dynamic on a board with between 35 and 40 cells (5×7 and 6×6). (I have previously produced reform-chess games for 5×8, 6×8, 8×6 and 9×6 boards.)
The other option is to introduce variations into the starting setup. The rigidity of the strictly determined starting setup of traditional 8×8 chess, characterized by the symmetry and opposition of corresponding pieces, can successfully be relaxed by making the placement of the major pieces on the baseline—both in terms of sequence and position—optional.
Grandmaster Pál Benkõ published his version of reform chess, Prechess, in 1978. Here, the placement of the major pieces in the basic setup is not determined and can be asymmetrical. Robert Fischer also proposed a non-determined placement of the major pieces on a traditional 8×8 board, although he preferred to preserve a symmetrical basic setup of the major pieces (white pieces opposite to the equivalent black ones). Since these reform-chess games involved no differences from 8×8 chess either in terms of the board or in the number of pieces, the only change they brought to the traditional game was to make the opening more difficult for the players. Prechess has not become widespread, nor have the suggestions made by American chess genius R. Fischer met with success.
While elaborating my invention I recognized that if the placement of the major pieces on the baseline is optional—in terms of both sequence and the position of each individual major piece—the baseline may already contain a large number of variations striking for their innovation and diversity compared to the uniformity of orthodox chess openings, making it highly suitable for developing combinative abilities and creativity. Since the major pieces are not placed on the baseline of the board in a predetermined order but optionally, the resulting setup may thus include multiple asymmetries, characterized by the fact that the corresponding black and white major pieces are not placed in opposition to one another. This is one of the characteristic features of the reform-chess games that can be played on the (6×6, 5×7) Polgár Superstar® reform-chess board, according to the invention.
In order to achieve a suitable dynamization of the game, to increase dramatically the number of combinations, and thereby to enhance the development of creativity in teaching the game, it is important for the pieces in play, and principally the major pieces, to have maximal strength. In order to achieve this, wherever possible two queens are used already in the starting setup in the games according to this invention.
The majority of existing reform-chess games to date have not been able to achieve the desired acceleration of play while still preserving the traditional values of chess-primarily the high level of intellectual enjoyment inspired by a game rich in brilliant combinations. In the course of further developments the majority of reform chess versions have become over-complicated, the playing areas confusing, and the games slow and cumbersome. Most of them have merely satisfied their creator's desire for innovation but have failed to become popular and are not in widespread use, presumably not being suitable for this from the outset.